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If you like to watch a plain movie other than a big, loud, and fancy Hollywood film; if you prefer to think while you are watching it; if you want to know how a normal thing, which you may not pay an attention to in a daily routine, that could mess up an ordinating people's life, here is it, L'argent. It was the last movie made by Robert Bresson, was an acclaimed French film director, known for a spiritual and ascetic style.

This 1983 L'Argent (money) was based on Leo Tolstoy's novella The Forged Coupon. (Brings to mind Tolstoy's contemporary Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment.") The film covered a lot of events involving many characters in just a bit over 85 minutes with few dialogue but striking sequences of visual scenes that began with two school boys passed off a counterfeit 500 fr note and ended with brutal madness. One of the best “show, don’t tell” movie. Both DVD and BR versions are available now.

Read the article “L’argent: The Weight of the World By Adrian Martin”, a booklet included with the Criterion Collection DVD:
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4719-l-argent-the-weight-of-the-world

It's amazing so few people know of Bresson's films; he's one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. This film, his last, is brutally efficient in laying out his often bleak view of the world. Based on a Tolstoy story 'Le Faux Billet', it's an exercise in zero sum eliminative logic. The fact that the culprit (a counterfeit bill) is set in motion by playfully malicious youths and then the path is cleared by the greed and malice of their hypocritical parents is a beautiful setup for this dark meditation on the subjugation of human beings to their ruthless god.

L’Argent is the last of Robert Bresson’s thirteen films and most likely one could recognize the director, having seen a few of his films. He frames each shot with only the information that he wishes to portray to the audience, so often we only see only partial body shots whenever the facial expression would be inconsequential. The library copy is excellent as it has a commentary track plus an interview of Bresson (rare, as Bresson avoided interviews). Most viewers will most likely give the film one or two stars as they will have no clue what Bresson is trying to achieve. This is the only Bresson film that I have seen in a large theatre. All the other films that I’ve see were in tiny revival movie houses with just a handful of people attending.

Quotes

You said he was kind.
-I'll be kind when I'm rich.
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When I come home, I'll work as hard as I can. The three of us will start a new life together. ... Where are you going? Stay!
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A man who hasn't killed can be worse than a mass murderer.
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The money you stole...
-Without bloodshed, Your Honour.
Did you act out of idealism, to redistribute it?
-I'm generous.
The investigation has revealed that, along with your love of good suits. Do you plead guilty of fraud and theft?
-Given the circumstances of my thefts and given my ideas...
Just answer our questions.
-...that reject all rules of any kind, I was hoping to be acquitted. Or, if sentenced, to escape and start again.

And they beat you? You do everything, you wear yourself out for them. How come you don't drown yourself? Are you expecting a miracle?
-I expect nothing.
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Why did you kill? You kill for something, for a reason.
- I enjoyed it.
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Neither of us is a killer. We alone have no one on our conscience.
-You have me on your conscience. You have to answer for that now.
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You got revenge without doing a thing.
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Although justice is against you, you have the natural right to be an ordinary man. With your new awareness of yourself, of the world's absurdity and of the impossibility of change, what do they tell you?
-They say, "Obey! Stay out of what doesn't concern you. Wait. Everyone will be happy soon." I won't wait around for that.